I went through a phase early this year when I could. not. stop. making madeleines. There are worse ways to obsess, for sure, but I was basically at at least batch a day, constantly experimenting with infusions of flavor. Madeleines are a little tricky in that they don’t have a lot of water content, so there’s not a lot of room to substitute or swap things out. But that poses a fun challenge, which clearly piqued my creativity. Plus, they are little handheld sponge cakes, how can you not become obsessed?
While you would mostly likely never come across a peanut butter madeleine in France, no baked good enters my kitchen without peanut butter getting jammed into it at some point. It’s inevitable. We have great enthusiasm for peanut butter and chocolate in this household (if banana gets added to the fold, we then call it “the holy trinity”).
Replacing some of the butter for peanut butter yields in tender little cakes, with just enough peanut butter to scratch that itch, while maintaining a tight crumb. And then you’ve gotta dip them in chocolate. I mean, is there really another choice?
Peanut Butter Madeleines
12
servings20
minutes10
minutes1
hourMy favorite madeleine pan makes these glorious shell shapes, but the traditional style pan works just the same. Depending on your pan, you’ll get between 12-18 cakes, keep an eye on baking time if your pan is smaller.
Ingredients
5 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp. butter (plus more for the pan)
1/2 teas. vanilla
2 large eggs, room temperature
dash of salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped semi-sweet chocolate
1/3 cup lightly salted peanuts, chopped small
Directions
- In a small sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and peanut butter together and whisk until combined. Add vanilla and et aside to cool for about 15 minutes.
- Once it’s cooled, place eggs and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip until frothy. Add the sugar and mix until eggs have doubled in volume, about 5 minutes.
- Slowly add in the peanut butter mixture. Gently fold in flour by hand, using a spatula, until just mixed.
- Cover batter and rest in fridge for an hour. This will allow the flour to hydrate and will aid in developing the coveted humps on their backs.
- While the batter is chilling, butter and flour each cavity in the madeleine pans well and rest in freezer until ready to use.
- Preheat oven to 375. Fill prepared pans in batter in whatever way is most comfortable to you and works for your pan (I use a small cookie scoop, but you could pipe it in with a pastry bag).
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges look a little golden and the tops feel set. Flip out onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.
- In a small bowl, microwave the chocolate in 15 sec bursts, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted. (Alternately, use a double boiler to melt the chocolate).
- Dip the tips of the madeleines in the melted chocolate and set on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and allow the chocolate to set before eating (if you can’t take it anymore, pop them in the fridge for 5 min to speed this up).
